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Depending on where you live, you may or not know that right now is maple syrup season! What and when is maple syrup season? The timing varies a little bit each year because it has to do with the weather. Once spring weather approaches and things start to melt, the sap in maple trees starts to run and that means it’s time to start collecting it and turn it into everyone’s favorite: maple syrup!
It’s usually a very busy time of year for maple syrup farmers because they have to keep up with collecting all the sap as it flows and not let a drop go to waste. Did you know it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup? After all the sap has been collected from the trees, turned into syrup, and bottled, many communities have maple syrup festivals to celebrate! Farmers sell their syrup and other maple-flavored goodies (cotton candy, butter, baked goods, you name it!) and there is almost always a pancake breakfast.
Unfortunately maple syrup festivals have had to be cancelled this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have your own pancake breakfast at home! Today we’re sharing these adorable maple leaf printables from our friend MJ Kocovski that you can use in a whole bunch of ways to decorate! Get the free ready-to-print files below!
We’ve been saving up our empty maple syrup jugs for a little while now, so used them as upcycled table decor. Just print out the mini maple leaf pattern, trim it down to size, and wrap your jugs to cover any existing designs on them. For the glass jugs, we removed the sticker labels and instead cut out a larger maple leaf in a circle shape and stuck that on instead with double sided tape.
We also wanted to add some more pink to the party, so poured paint inside a few of the clear jugs, swirled it around to coat, and let dry. If you don’t have as many empty maple syrup jugs as we did, no need to worry! You can use these printables to decorate jars, cups, whatever you have on hand. Or cut them out and turn them into a garland instead!
If you have any little silver buckets, they’re also a great thing to add to the table – traditionally syrup was collected in buckets on trees, but now farmers have a much more advanced system using plastic tubing instead. Emptied small tin cans (like from tomato paste or soup) would work here too!
And of course, make a few simple toppers for your pancakes by simply cutting and taping the printable onto a wooden skewer. Voila! Enjoy your family pancake breakfast!
